The Islamic State Was Engaged in Insurgency Long Before the Caliphate Collapsed

The Islamic State (IS) brought out the forty-third edition of Al-Naba, its newsletter, on 16 August 2016. On page 3 was an article that made reference to IS’s insurgent activities, which had already begun in areas it had lost. A rough copy is reproduced below.

At that time this article was published, IS was on the verge of losing Minbij, and had issued statements in May 2016 and June saying that the loss of the caliphate would not be the end of the group. By early 2017, IS’s insurgent operations were visibly mature, long before the formal declaration in October 2017 that IS was giving up its statelet and recommencing all-out insurgency.

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And Sit in Ambush at Every Place

A day does not pass when people don’t hear reports of large-scale operations carried out by the soldiers of the caliphate in areas beyond their control, even when they have aligned against them under the pressure of bombing and destruction, or were previously inaccessible.

Bombings and martyrdom operations in have been carried out in Baghdad, Diyala, Saladin, al-Baraka [Hasaka], al-Qamishli, Ayn al-Islam [Kobani or Ayn al-Arab], al-Faruq and others. In addition to the blessed operations of the caliphate soldiers against the crusaders around the world, they have killed hundreds of mushrikeen [polytheists, idolaters] and murtadeen [apostates], and spread fear among them, in areas they considered safe from the strikes of the Caliphate soldiers. Recently, the caliphate’s soldiers deliberated a painful blow to the Sahwat [Awakening, i.e. Syrian rebels] on the artificial Turkish border as they were moving in to fight the Islamic State in the countryside of northern Aleppo.

The apostates of all kinds, and their crusader masters behind them, make many mistakes by thinking that the removal of the Islamic State from a region by aerial bombardment, or an incident of treachery and betrayal, will make them despair of returning to it, or accept the survival of the infidels [who come in to occupy the territory] in safety and reassurance. And they are thus exposing their ignorance of the doctrine carried forth by the soldiers of the Islamic State, and the approach they are taking in their jihad. It is one of the foundations of tawhid [monotheism], established [as a governing system] by the soldiers of the caliphate—bi fadl Allah [by the grace of God]—that they do not stop fighting the mushrikeen until they convert them to the religion of God and His rulings, Islam, made them into tribute, or realigned them through a covenant with the Imam of the Muslims, and they do not stop fighting the apostates until they repent their errors and correct what they spoiled of their religion, returning to the circle of Islam and embracing one of its highest ideals, al-wala wal-bara [loyalty to believers and dissociation/enmity toward unbelievers], and rejecting shirk [polytheism, idolatry].

The evidence of history proves that the mujahideen of the Islamic State did not allow the apostates to enjoy security and safety for even a day, and their sabila [path] was, in the words of the Lord, “Fight them! God will torment them at your hands, and He will disgrace them and give you victory over them, and He will heal the breasts of the believing people” [At-Tawbah (Repentance) (9): 14]. This is evident from the years after the emergence of the Sahwat in Iraq, when the mujahideen inhiyaz ila al-sahra [turned/departed into the desert],[1] leaving behind dozens of mujahideen, the soldiers of al-mafariz al-amniya [the security detachments/units],[2] who harassed the apostates, killing and slaughtering them, confusing them, depleting their ranks, and exhausting their army, police, and intelligence forces until God authorized the return of al-Fursan al-Sahra [the Knights of the Desert] to storm the apostates’ fortresses, after they had become weary from the [attacks with] al-aswad al-kawatim [the black silencers] of the guns, bombs, and the martyrdom operations, and this is what will continue—God willing—until God separates [the believers] from criminal people everywhere. …

The joy of the Rafida [Shi’is] and the apostates of the Sahwat in Iraq because of the loss of territory by the Islamic State, and the joy of the Sahwat and the Kurds in Syria, is without consideration of their predecessors; they have not learned their lessons, or listened to advice the caliphal state to repent and return to God …

The war of al-mafariz al-amniya against the apostates is still in its infancy, but not a day passes by where the mujahideen do not gain experience in methods of deceiving their enemies, thwarting their security plans, and overcoming the limits and obstacles they set in the path of the mujahideen to protect themselves from their blows. The blows also strike a long way away in Paris and Brussels. No day passes when God does not guide the mujahideen to ascend to tawhid, and fills their hearts with love for hijra [migration] and jihad. If they are unable to reach the Dar al-Islam [The Abode of Islam], it is decided that they should wage the jihad against the mushrikeen and murtadeen in Dar al-Kufr [The Abode of Unbelief].

The apostates of the Sahwa factions in Syria should review themselves, return to their religion, and repent of their leaders’ apostasy, joining against the mushrikeen with the soldiers of the Islamic State, refraining from violating the laws of religion, and realizing that their leaders—and the Arab and non-Arab tyrants behind them—are unable to protect them from the blows of the mujahideen. … They must know that they can only protect themselves by declaring repentance to God, to gain safety from torment in this world and the Hereafter. …